


Once Upon Another Time

by UAgirl



Category: Passions
Genre: AU, Adult Themes, Angst, Character Death(s), F/M, Mild Language, Rape (off-screen), Romance, Sexual Situations, Violence (mostly off-screen)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-01-10 12:48:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1159915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UAgirl/pseuds/UAgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It ends much the same way it begins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Your Star

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Your Star  
> Rating: PG  
> Warning: angst  
> Pairing/Characters: Sheridan, mentions of Luis, hints of Sheridan/Luis  
> Summary (for chapter): prompt: crash. …it ends much the same way it begins.

The world burns around her as night closes in.

Blood streaks her blond hair, mats it to her feverish forehead, as her pain-hazed eyes struggle to focus, shift wildly back and forth to her immediate surroundings. Smoke, thick and black and rolling leaps and licks at her abraded skin, crawls into her throat, forces a cough past her ruby lips, and the deep moan that swells defiantly at its invasion robs her of her breath for several long, terrifying moments where Sheridan is sure this is it, this is the end, this is Death.

Fiery sparks flicker like possessed fireflies all around. Limbs snap, crackle, pop before they crash to the forest floor below, casualties of a force more malevolent than nature, sabotage and hatred unleashed. Wildlife skitter here and there, frantic, helter-skelter for safe haven, and the silver moon disappears behind the black curtain of hell on earth.

Sheridan's fingernails claw the dirt beneath her broken body, desperate for an escape that she knows doesn't exist, and tears track down her trembling cheeks, slip into her hairline, screams echoing in her ears as the flames sizzle nearer. The ground shakes beneath her as the rest of the fuselage explodes somewhere behind her, and the screams morph into a guttural growl of agony when she curls away from the ricocheting debris launched with the blast.

Heat cloaks the night, chases away the chilly sting of Fall.

But cold creeps up on Sheridan, and her breath grows short, labored with the passing seconds, minutes, hours. She thinks of Luis, and the pain dulls, recedes. She thinks of Luis, and he's there, and he's reaching for her, and she's almost home, almost there, but it's too much and not enough, and she smiles at the irony of it all, because it ends much the same way it begins, with a crash; but this one is bigger, brighter, fiery, final. Blue eyes slowly drift closed, and he's all she sees, forevermore.

The world burns around her as night closes in.


	2. What the Water Gave Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His skin was soft in the wake of her tentative touch, supple, strong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: What the Water Gave Me  
> Rating: PG  
> Warning: no real warnings, unless implied lustful thoughts count  
> Pairing/Characters: Sheridan, Luis  
> Word Count: 764  
> Summary (for chapter): prompt: soft. His skin was soft in the wake of her tentative touch, supple, strong.

~*~

 

His skin was soft in the wake of her tentative touch, supple, strong.

Sheridan's teeth clamped on her lower lip, bit down as Luis returned the favor, trailing his knuckles up and down the length of her bare arm. Gooseflesh pebbled her tingling flesh, and she felt the tickle of a thousand butterfly wings as they started their flight beneath her ribcage, fighting for freedom. She dropped her head as Luis's long fingers encircled her wrist, slid back up her arm, gently cradled her elbow, and her breath came short and fast as his lips caressed her brow in the sweetest of touches, so unexpected from the man she had come to know in the last several months.

A frown suddenly furrowed the dark slash of Luis's brows, and his hand dropped away as he took a distancing step back, rocked on his heels, and leveled a frustrated stare at her. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Because that little stunt you just pulled…"

Ah, there he was, Sheridan mused to herself as she fought back a smile, because Supercop cared for her, she was more than just a pain in his ass; it was written in the guarded recesses of his dark eyes. "You're not my keeper, Luis. I'm a big girl. The current was a little stronger than I expected. I'm perfectly fine."

"Riptides are dangerous, and if you had paid any attention to the warning flags, I wouldn't have had to jump in and rescue your ungrateful ass."

Sheridan's chin climbed in bristling indignation. "I no more needed rescuing than you needed to rescue me. I'm an experienced swimmer, Buster. I've dealt with riptides before."

Luis's jaw tightened and his eyes flashed in unsuppressed irritation at her. "Don't Buster me."

"Quit treating me like I'm one of your common criminals, and I might consider it," Sheridan shot back haughtily, squaring her slender shoulders as she stood her ground, as well as she could with gritty sand coating her legs and the phantom imprint of Luis's muscular forearm still making itself known beneath her heaving breasts. In her skimpy blue bikini, she was seriously underdressed for this confrontation. "What are you even doing here?"

Luis raked an agitated hand through his hair, flicking sea water from the black spikes as he did so.

"You agreed to let me have today off," Sheridan pressed on when it appeared the appropriate words had deserted Luis. "What happened? Did you change your mind? Could you at least look at me while I'm talking to you?" she huffed, digging her toes deeper into the cool sand.

Luis's dark eyes slowly lifted, fixated on a spot just beyond Sheridan's sun-bronzed shoulder, and he gruffly ground out. "Nothing happened. I didn't change my mind. I was driving by, and I thought I saw your car."

Sheridan's lips twitched, and she couldn't resist teasing him. "You thought you saw my car? And you just happened to be in the neighborhood too, right?" Her merry blue eyes studied him unabashedly, the alluring hint of an imminent five o'clock shadow, the fan of heavy dark lashes against his cheeks, the obstinate set of that beautiful mouth, and she smirked in delight as she watched the strained play of muscle in the powerful curve of his neck and shoulder as he attempted to avoid her gaze, dodge her attempts at dragging a reluctant confession from him.

"There was a theft reported at the Seascape," Luis finally spoke in his defense. "It's in this neighborhood," he mockingly reminded her, his obsidian eyes finally drawn to her face. A smile curved his lips when her grin faltered, and he lifted his hand to comb a wet blond curl from her eyes. "Be grateful for the lucky coincidence and leave it at that."

"So you're saying it was fate that you happened to drive by and see my car?"

"Crane," Luis barked warningly. "You know I don't believe in…" he trailed off when she beamed at him in triumph and gave the heavy wet material pulling at his able shoulders a vicious tug at the collar in his aggravation. Frowning, he informed her, "I expect to see you, bright and early, at the Youth Center tomorrow morning."

Surging onto her tiptoes, Sheridan cupped his jaw in her palm and pressed an impulsive kiss to the corner of his mouth as she agreed, "Bright and early." He tasted dark, dangerous, divine. "Bright and early," she repeated softly as she watched him stalk away with heady anticipation bubbling up and fairly brimming out of her. "Tomorrow."


	3. Surrender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sheridan walked into the Harmony Police Department with the clothes on her back and a few odds and ends of a borrowed life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Surrender  
> Rating: PG.  
> Warning: angst, allusions to character death, drive-by mention of nudity and past amorous actions.  
> Pairing/Characters: Sheridan/Luis, Sam, other characters.  
> Summary (for chapter): prompt: odds and ends. Sheridan walked into the Harmony Police Department with the clothes on her back and a few odds and ends of a borrowed life.

~*~

 

"You don't have to go."

Sheridan lifted sore, reddened eyes to Luis's somber face. He meant it; she could tell. But she couldn't. Stay, that is. She'd already taken so much from him. She couldn't take this from him too: his resolve, his gesture of charity, his offer of absolution. "We both know I do."

Luis's expression was grim as he regarded her, resigned as he walked away, his heavy steps echoing in the quiet hall.

The closet looked empty with her colorful clothes already gone from it, the dresser drawers bare. The bathroom was neat, almost militarily so, without her perfume, her shampoo, the body wash he always used to smell like on those lazy early mornings where nothing was more important than him and her and just enjoying each other in the warm water sluicing over their naked skin.

Sheridan picked up her toothbrush, zipped it away in her small toiletries bag, cast her gaze around the darkened room, took a shaky breath. She stepped out into the hall, glanced at the two closed doors on either side of its end, felt grief and regret well up again.

Luis's shoulders were slumped, his head bowed, in the living room. He said nothing as she entered the room.

The overfull suitcases wobbled when Sheridan set them down. Her heels clicked a lonely rhythm out against the hardwood floor. The denim of his jeans felt rough against her palms as she slid them upward from his knees to curl around the fists clenched in his lap. Her voice was thin and hoarse and guilt-laden to her own ears as she forced out an apology. "I loved you, Luis. That part was never a lie."

Luis didn't look up as she placed the cool metal in his hand, didn't move to stop her as she walked out the door and out of his life.

Sheridan walked into the Harmony Police Department with the clothes on her back and a few odds and ends of a borrowed life. "I'm here to surrender myself," she announced, to a room full of Luis's shocked co-workers and friends.

"Sheridan," Sam softly pleaded. "You don't want to do this."

"Sam," Sheridan blinked back tears. "You know better than anyone that I have to do this." She outstretched her arms, offered Sam her wrists.

Sam sighed as he withdrew a set of cuffs, placed them on her gently. "Sheridan Crane Lopez-Fitzgerald, you are under arrest for the murder of Martin Fitzgerald."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters in this story are non-linear.


	4. All the Way Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm nobody's victim," Sheridan bit out. "Not anymore…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: All the Way Down  
> Rating: R.  
> Warning: sexual situations, but nothing too explicit—mostly suggestive, down to the title, lol; mild language.  
> Pairing/Characters: Sheridan/Luis, mention of Sam.  
> Word Count: 885.  
> Summary (for chapter): prompt: fight. I'm nobody's victim," Sheridan bit out. "Not anymore…"

~*~

 

"You don't own me, Supercop," Sheridan spat at Luis, wrenching her arm from his grasp. "And you sure as hell don't tell me what to do."

Luis blocked her attempts to slam the door in his face by wedging his solid body halfway in and outside the cottage and giving a mighty shove with his hand. "Don't be a fool. You don't know the first thing about police work. This undercover operation is a suicide mission, Crane. I never would have mentioned it if I'd ever thought you'd be stupid enough to volunteer yourself as bait." His eyes flashed blackly, deep and dark and demanding for her concession to reason, but Sheridan was having none of it.

 

"I've certainly been used by enough men to play the part. You said so yourself."

 

Luis softened when he realized she'd taken his words to heart, looking shame-faced and insulted. "Sheridan, I never meant…"

 

"I know what you meant," Sheridan snapped defensively. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, stepped just beyond his reach.

 

"You don't," Luis insisted. "I just…look, I…" His hand tunneled through his black hair as he searched futilely for the right words to persuade her, stand her down. "You're willfully putting yourself in danger. You realize that?"

 

"I'm nobody's victim," Sheridan bit out. "Not anymore. But I can play the part. I'm intimately familiar with it. And if I can help just one of those women…you're not going to deny me this, Luis. You're not."

 

"I can't believe Sam's on board with this," Luis growled, his anger rapidly returning in the face of her continued defiance. "This guy, our suspect, has raped at least four women so far, all of them with backgrounds similar to yours—single, wealthy, beautiful. He's been brought in a couple of times, but both times the evidence was circumstantial, and this guy…he has friends in high places. Sheridan, if you make one false move, if he gets to you…"

 

"Luis," Sheridan stepped forward again, shivered as her arm lightly brushed against the tender inside of his own. "I'll be careful. Nothing will happen to me." She gasped softly as his thumb touched the stubborn set of her jaw, slid across the silken skin to her mouth, and lingered there.

 

"You can't promise that." Luis's eyes fell to her mouth, and his thumb moved in an unconscious caress, the pressure behind the touch increasing with each languid stroke until Sheridan's lips parted in anticipation. "You don't know that," he said, swooping down and taking her mouth. His other hand came up to cradle her head as the length of his long, lean body pressed into Sheridan, and they tumbled back against the wall.

 

Sheridan vaguely registered the sound of shattering glass over the roar of her own heartbeat in her ears, but it soon faded to the background as one of Luis's knees boldly insinuated itself between her legs and pressed upward. She moaned into Luis's savage mouth, clawed at the buttons of his uniform, rocked against him. Hard, quivering muscle soon met her hands, warm, soft skin, and she felt the earth tilting on its axis as Luis's capable hands lifted her and her quaking legs wrapped around his trim waist. "This won't change my mind," she panted against the sensitive shell of Luis's ear when he wrenched his mouth free to nip and suck at the vulnerable tendons of her neck.

 

"I know," Luis breathed against her collarbone, his fingertips dipping into her cleavage then retreating, teasing the swell of her breast above the lace-edged cup of her bra only to retract themselves again. "You're one of the most stubborn women I've ever met," he revealed, shrugging first one arm then the next out of the heavy constricting uniform. His impatient fingers shoved her blouse from her shoulder, and he nuzzled the sun-golden skin he'd discovered while Sheridan fumbled with nerveless fingers to undo his belt.

 

"Look in a mirror, Buster," Sheridan breathlessly replied before mewing with frustration and cupping him through his pants. Her head hit the wall with a jarring thud when Luis surged forward in response and nearly devoured her lips and tongue.

 

Luis broke away with a frown tugging at his mouth, swore underneath his breath. "This isn't going to work."

 

Before Sheridan had time to contemplate what he meant by his comment, he had lowered her to the ground on shaky legs and dropped to his knees before her. His dark, calloused palms skated up her calves, disappeared beneath her skirt, and she felt herself go liquid inside as she gripped his broad shoulders with bloodless fingers. His name left her lips on a prayer as he teased the damp silk barrier that covered her with agile fingertips, and her breath caught in her throat. "Luis." She stared down at him with hooded, glittering blue eyes when those torturous hands reappeared, that thin triangle of lace and silk in their grasp.

 

Luis grinned wolfishly up at her as his hot hands nudged her thighs apart, as he made her stumble and sink against him, and he tossed the garment aside. "You won't need those anymore. C'mere."

 

It was a promise, it was a threat, it was a declaration of his less than noble intentions; Sheridan didn't have to be told twice.

 

~*~


	5. Baby Bleu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He had ten little fingers and ten little toes, and he was perfect, almost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby Bleu  
> Rating: G.  
> Warning: angst.  
> Pairing/Characters: Sheridan, original characters.  
> Word Count: 264.  
> Summary (for chapter): prompt: born. He had ten little fingers and ten little toes, and he was perfect, almost.

~*~

He had ten little fingers and ten little toes, and he was perfect, almost.

 

Sheridan watched her son wiggle and coo in the bassinet as the nurse fastened the last button on his blue onesie with a gentle smile.

 

"There you go, Little Man. All dry and ready to go to Mama."

 

Sheridan bit her lip, bit back the tidal wave of her panic, and slowly shook her head. "I don't know. He's so small."

 

"You won't break him," the nurse kindly reassured her.

 

Tears welled, unbidden, in Sheridan's blue eyes, and she confessed her greatest fear. "I'm afraid he'll break me."

 

"Don't be silly, Dear." The nurse swaddled the pink-skinned infant in a blanket and placed him in Sheridan's arms before she could protest again, showed her how to support his delicate head. Pleased with herself, she backed up, smiled. "See? He's just a wee thing, so sweet. Quite the handsome little devil, he is." She lingered at the doorway to Sheridan's private room, offered a bit of friendly, unsolicited advice. "Hold him tight and love him fiercely. He'll never be this innocent again."

 

Her heart hammering beneath her ribcage, her throat tight with conflicting emotions, Sheridan nodded as the older woman dismissed herself.

 

"Don't forget. Use your call button if you need anything. Anything at all."

 

"I will," Sheridan promised hoarsely, transfixed by the little boy nestled snugly, comfortably in her arms, and the unfocused blue eyes that blinked up at her.

 

Josiah Crane had ten little fingers and ten little toes, and he was perfect, almost.

 

He looked like his father.


	6. Going Under

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Why didn't you tell me?" Luis's voice was strained in the quiet room, at once soft and dangerous with controlled fury as he uttered the question, his dark head bowed, his back to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Going Under  
> Rating: PG-13  
> Warnings: adult themes, mild language, angst.  
> Characters/Pairings: Sheridan, Luis, mentions of Sam, original character.  
> Summary: prompt: breakable. "Why didn't you tell me?" Luis's voice was strained in the quiet room, at once soft and dangerous with controlled fury as he uttered the question, his dark head bowed, his back to her.

~*~

 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Luis's voice was strained in the quiet room, at once soft and dangerous with controlled fury as he uttered the question, his dark head bowed, his back to her.

 

For a long moment, Sheridan gazed at the strong line of Luis's shoulders beneath the ill-fitting suit jacket, watched the pull and strain of his frustration at its seams. Outside the small, windowless box Sam had sequestered them in, chaos swept on a cresting wave through the small Harmony courthouse. Sheridan hoped, prayed (futilely) that the headline-hungry reporters would allow her to hang onto what was left of her dignity.

 

"Sheridan, why?" Luis asked again, his voice rough with abraded pain as he faced her for the first time since her damning revelation in the courtroom. "Why let me find out this way?"

 

"Would it have helped if I'd told you differently, Luis? Would it really?" Sheridan queried. "I don't think so," she whispered. As she spoke, she twisted the rings on her finger. She flinched involuntarily when Luis abruptly covered her small hand with his larger one to soothe the nervous gesture, and felt tears grab tight to her throat when he immediately stepped back, gifted her with his careful distance.

 

Luis jerked an agitated hand through his black hair, paced the claustrophobic room. In desperation, he offered gruffly, "Maybe it's mine."

 

Tears flooded Sheridan's blue eyes, breached the protective armor shielding her emotions, holding the shattered pieces of her together. "I wish, Luis. You don't know how much I wish that were true. But we both know it isn't."

 

Answering tears glittered unshed in Luis's dark orbs, lingered and clung to his thick, dark lashes as they swooped down to kiss his cheeks. "I never should have let you go after that bastard!" His anguish and rage helplessly erupted. "Dammit, Sheridan! I never should have agreed to it. I should have stopped you."

 

He was despondent, as heartbroken as Sheridan had ever seen him, more even than the night he had saved her life, if not her bruised body, her battered soul. "You couldn't have stopped me if you'd tried, Luis," she told him truthfully. "Don't blame yourself for something that's not your fault." A knock sounded through the heavy wooden door then, swift and sure, and Sheridan knew their time was up before it'd ever really begun.

 

"Sam," Luis breathed.

 

"Sam," Sheridan nodded, as the knock was repeated, followed by the Police Chief's muffled voice calling their names. She stood slowly, reluctantly, smoothed the wrinkles out of her skirt, tugged the too-tight blouse from her thickening middle as Luis watched her with new, searching eyes.

 

Luis reached out, grabbed the rattling door knob.

 

"It's over then," Sheridan murmured as the door slowly swung open, Sam standing on the other side.

 

Sam was somber and staid as he echoed her words. "It's over."

 

 

~*~

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters in this story are non-linear.


End file.
